


Necessary Precautions

by CaptainLobotomy



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Caring Dave, Caring Kanaya, Claustrophobia, Emetophilia, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Sick Dave, Sick Karkat, Sickfic, Sickstuck, Terezi Pyrope - Freeform, caring Karkat, caring gamzee, caring kanayaish, ish, sick gamzee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-23 22:18:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2557721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLobotomy/pseuds/CaptainLobotomy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gamzee gets sick on the meteor while hiding from Kanaya in the vents. Karkat has to take care of him secretly. Then, when Karkat gets sick it results in a chain reaction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Claustrophobia

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing about Karkat getting nervous in the vent and decided to just make it it's own chapter. Sorry :p

Karkat was walking through the corridors of the stupid meteor-hive, away from an altercation with a dumb, uninformed human “cool kid,” when he stopped in his tracks, hearing a strange, echoing noise. Karkat’s eyes narrowed as he searched the seemingly empty space for the source of the noise. “HEY, FUCKWAD!” he called out, thinking the stupid human boy was stalking him for some dumb, ironic reason or something. Karkat spun in his tracks, looking for where the sound emanated from. He rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed, “I must be going fucking crazy,” he whispered to himself, “probably need to fucking sleep more.” His hands tightened into fists when he thought about his sleeping struggles, it’s not like he wasn’t trying. He started walking again, annoyed when he heard the noise a second time. It sounded like a pained moan, it didn’t seem like it was too far away either. Karkat started to worry, he bit his lip and thought about where the noise could be coming from. His eyes shot open when they came across a metallic vent. _Gamzee. Fuck._

            Karkat pried open the vent grate and lifted himself inside, careful to close it after him. He really couldn’t let Kanaya get to Gamzee first, especially because the dumb fuck was moaning and shit. What the fuck was he thinking!? Karkat followed the pained noises through the vent, trying to ignore the malicious feeling that the walls were closing in on him. Fuck, how did Gamzee live like this!? Karkat shivered a little and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to get claustrophobic. This was the exact opposite time to do that thing. He stopped for a moment, putting each hand on the side of the vent, he made a mental note. That is exactly how big the vent is. It’s not getting smaller. That would be impossible. It would be foolish to think that the metal vent could close up around him like some metal monster. Every part of Karkat was telling him to try and claw his way out of that god forsaken vent but he willed himself to go foreward. If Gamzee could crawl around in these all day than him just fitting in it should be a fucking cakewalk. Karkat, Proceed.  

He found his moirail, laying on his back with his arms draped over him. Karkat sighed, “Gamzee, what the fuck?” Karkat was careful to keep his voice down. A necessary precaution. Gamzee replied with another moan, less loud than the others. His eyes were closed and it didn’t look like he was going to bother to move any time soon. Karkat sighed, jamming himself between Gamzee and the wall of the vent and wriggling to the other side of the larger troll. He took him by the collar of his shirt and started dragging him, much to Gamzee’s discontent, through the vents.

            It wasn’t long before Karkat came to an opening in the vent, peering into it to see the room bellow. Looked like Strider’s room. Karkat counted the openings ahead of them. The third one down was his own room. He would make sure his stupid, inconsiderate, juggalo friend was safe there. Karkat continued hauling Gamzee through the vents until he got to the right opening. He kicked the grate into his room, so close to escaping this confining, metal fucking prison. He crawled out of the vent, taking a deep breath, as if he had just clawed his way out of his own coffin. He let himself fall to his knees, catching his breath, happy no one was around to see this awful dramatic display. He wiped away some tears that had formed in the midst of his anxiety. 

           Karkat reluctantly picked himself up, his legs still shaking from the trauma inflicted on him from that stupid fucking vent. He pulled a chair toward the vent opening and stood on top of it to collect his sick friend. He picked Gamzee up from under his arms and hauled him out of the vent. He wasn't quite sure at this point whether he was shaking from the dead weight or the claustrophobic encounter. After struggling, he managed to get Gamzee onto his bed, which under normal circumstances would have probably been too short for the lanky troll had Gamzee not immediately curled himself into a tight, little ball. Karkat let himself collapse again from the exhaustion of going through that much fucking stress for this clown-fetish, tool.  

 


	2. Fever

Karkat reluctantly picked himself up, taking a couple deep breaths before locking his door from the inside and moving back toward Gamzee, “you stupid piece of-” He noticed tears forming in the corners of Gamzee’s eyes. He sat on the bed and inched toward him, rubbing his back. “Okay, calm down. What’s the matter?”

            Gamzee blinked his eyes open, looking at the smaller troll, “Karkat?”

            “Yeah, it’s me, you idiot,” he said softly, “now tell me what’s wrong.”

            Gamzee moaned again, wrapping his arms around his midsection, “not feelin’ all too hot right now, Kar.”

            “Yeah I kind of got that part,” Karkat sighed, sarcastically. “I mean what, _specifically,_ is bothering you?”

            Gamzee winced and attempted to bury his face in the blankets, “m’stomach kills, bro.” Karkat’s face softened, sympathetically. Stupid homicidal bastard. He started petting Gamzee’s hair.

            “I’ll be right back. Don’t make any noise.” Karkat warned. Gamzee nodded compliantly and closed his eyes.

            Karkat came back with a bottle of water to see Gamzee shivering violently and whimpering. He closed his door and locked it before he ran over to him. He noticed Gamzee’s stupid clown make-up smeared across his face from the sweat accumulating on his skin, which was now a much paler grey. “Aww fuck, Gamzee. You’re really sick aren’t you?” Gamzee looked up at Karkat with watering eyes and nodded wearily, attempting to move closer to Karkat for warmth. “Just…” Karkat put a hand on Gamzee’s forehead, “fuck. Give me a second.” Karkat ran to the bathroom and came back with a wet cloth. Gamzee whined as Karkat placed it on his forehead and he started to shake more.

            “No, Kar! It’s too cold,” Gamzee cried, his breathing becoming shallower.

            “I’m trying to bring your fever down, idiot. It won’t be cold once your body stops being a fucking furnace.” Gamzee used his hand to weakly bat the cloth off of his head and nestle in toward Karkat. Karkat groaned, sticking the cloth back onto Gamzee’s head, “do you want to fry your think pan? Is that what you want?” Gamzee didn’t reply. He crawled shakily toward Karkat and rested his head on his lap. Karkat sighed and pulled a few blankets over Gamzee. “Okay, just… keep the cloth there. Try and get some sleep.”

            Gamzee squeezed his eyes shut, “way ahead of you, brother,” he mumbled lazily.

            Karkat reached over to find something to pass the time as Gamzee fell into a coma-type sleep. Karkat brought his laptop closer to him and opened it, checking to see if Gamzee would react to the bright light being so close to his face. Thankfully not. Looked like Dave had tried to contact Karkat. Probably wondering where he’d gotten off to. Whatever, he could wait.

            After a while of Karkat mindlessly doing fuck all on his computer, Gamzee wrapped his arms around him. Fuck, he was hot, like boiling water that is. “Gamz, what the fuck are you doing?” Gamzee didn’t move, or even react. Holy shit, was he still sleeping? Karkat shrugged it off and let the other troll hug him. It wasn’t long until Gamzee’s grip around Karkat tightened, his muscles shaking from the effort. Karkat peered down at him, his face was contorted with what looked like fear. He had never seen Gamzee scared before. This was fucking weird. Karkat grunted, it was probably his fucking fever. Dammit. He debated with himself about whether he should wake Gamzee up or let him sleep. He needed to sleep off his illness but his breathing was rapid and Karkat could feel his heartbeat against the bed. He sighed loudly and ran his fingers through Gamzee’s messy hair. He papped Gamzee with his other hand, “c’mon, Gamz. It’s okay, it’s just a dream.” Gamzee opened his eyes and looked at Karkat, fearful look still plastered on his face. “Don’t worry, Gamz. You’re awake now, safe.” Gamzee hugged Karkat tight, causing the smaller troll to flinch slightly. “You…” Karkat could not believe what he was about to say, “you want to talk about it?”

            Gamzee buried his face into Karkat’s lap, “Nepeta,” he said simply. Karkat tensed up a bit, it sounded like he was verging on tears.

            “Gamz-”

            “She was so chill and, nice and, innocent…” Gamzee shuttered as he gave into his emotions, tightly hugging Karkat and sobbing into his lap.

            “Shh,” Karkat whispered, gently rubbing Gamzee’s back. He felt sorry for the fucker, he’d gone about life thinking he was stupid for protecting Gamzee but… he was starting to feel like maybe he was doing the right thing making sure no one chopped him up with a chainsaw. Karkat’s mind wandered, thinking about Gamzee’s rampage, how he was on Alternia and his remorse now. He wondered how long he had been thinking because it looked like Gamzee had fallen asleep again. Karkat felt Gamzee’s cheek. He seemed to have cooled down. He removed the cloth, frowning at the smudges of clown make-up on it and tossed it away. Karkat felt his eyes beginning to burn from fatigue. He rubbed them before carefully working himself out from under Gamzee and switching the light off. He moved back toward the bed and laid down on his back, closing his eyes.

            Soon after, Gamzee scooted toward him, wrapping his arms around the smaller troll. Karkat, pulled the blanket around them and cuddled Gamzee, kissing his forehead before closing his eyes.   


	3. Nausea

Karkat awoke to a gentle nudge. Who the fuck was prodding him!? He opened his eyes, annoyed expression on his face before he remembered, Gamzee. "What the fuck do you want?" He asked the other troll while his eyes adjusted to seeing shit and being open. He blinked a couple times before he could clearly see the other Troll's face. He was still a pale gray color, his eyes still looked glazed over and droopy, and there was a hint of desperation on his face. 

"Sorry, Kar. Just... I really think I'm gonna' be sick," he winced a little, putting a firm hand on his stomach that growled rebelliously. Karkat sighed, climbing out of bed. 

"Stay put, okay?" Gamzee nodded, wincing again as he moved his head. It felt as though he had just shaken his brain around in a vat of acid. Karkat grabbed a trash can and put it by the side of the bed, closest to Gamzee. He opened the bottle of water from before, "try and drink some of this." 

Gamzee moaned, "I don't think I can..."

Karkat pet Gamzee's head, "okay, we'll try again in a bit."

Gamzee nodded wearily before leaning over the bed and puking into the trash. Karkat put a hand on his tensed back as he released the contents of his stomach into the trash. Gamzee whined before another wave of vomiting hit and he was bent over the bed, aiming for the trash once again. Even when there was nothing left to bring up his stomach was still doing wicked cartwheels, he started dry heaving. Tears were streaming down his face as Karkat tried his best to soothe him.

After he had stopped gagging his stomach continued to twist miserably. He leaned into Karkat for comfort. Karkat brought the water toward him, "think you can handle some now?"

Gamzee winced, "not'a chance," he admitted, flopping himself on top of the smaller troll. Karkat nodded, putting the cap back on the water as Gamzee's stomach growled audibly.  _Yikes._

"How you feeling?" Karkat asked, already pretty much knowing the answer and that it was a stupid question.

"Not good, Kar." Gamzee tried to ease the aching in his stomach by rubbing it but his hand quickly grew weak and he let it fall to his side, letting out a faint whimper. _Pathetic_. Karkat sighed, wrapping his arm around Gamzee and lightly rubbing his aching belly. 

"That better?" Karkat asked, feeling a little helpless himself when it came to getting Gamzee back on his feet and hidden again. Gamzee hummed happily, relaxing under Karkat's touch. Gamzee allowed his eyes to close, trying to fall asleep again. It didn't take long for Gamzee's breathing to steady and sleep to captivate him. Karkat left him tucked in and went off to make some soup. Gamzee was going to have to eat sooner or later, it was his choice whether he wanted freshly made or reheated soup.


	4. Anxiety

Karkat finished the soup in a hurry, ensuring no one was going to see him making soup and get curious. Not that they would have any reason to really get curious. Fucking paranoia. 

Karkat got back to his room, balancing the soup on his arm to open the door, "now I know you're not feeling well but you're going to have to-" Karkat looked up, caught off guard by the human boy inhabiting his room. He nearly dropped the soup but instead used his shaky hand to set it down. "Dave..."

Dave glanced between Karkat and Gamzee, who didn't seem to be all that shaken by the human's presence. Of course he wouldn't be, idiotic, trusting, piece of shit. "So uhh... Guess he came out of hiding. Huh?"

Karkat pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes, trying to collect his thoughts. "More like I dragged him out," he let out a frustrated huff, crossing his arms and trying to conceal the crippling anxiety that seemed to have him more or less in an emotional choke hold. He felt his ribs tremble as his heart raced and his lungs fluttered, "Dave."

"Karkat."

Karkat sighed, fucking humans. Fucking Strider. "I don't think you know how important it is that you DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, tell Kanaya, or Rose, or even Terezi about this." Karkat clenched his fists, growing frustrated, as usual, over the lack of control he had over his rising anxiety level. Shit was straight up boiling over.

"Trust me, bro. I know. Bitches be crazy." Dave replied, trying to assure Karkat he was sincere and failing pretty hardcore at it. "Plus, I kind of like this clowny bro. He's pretty sick, in both regards."

Karkat sighed, retrieving the soup for Gamzee and walking back to the bed. "Why the fuck did you come in my room, anyway?" Karkat nudged Gamzee, showing him the soup and gesturing for him to sit up. The larger troll complied, slowly lifting himself and leaning against Karkat for support once he was upright.

"You weren't responding to any messages, I didn't see you for like, a hella' long time after that gentlemen's duel. Thought you might have died in here or something."

"That wasn't a gentlemen-" Karkat tilted his head as Gamzee pushed the bowl away, "Gamz, you only had a few sips..." Dave stared at Karkat curiously through the tint of his sunglasses, watching the concern spread across his face. It was a strange way to see Karkat, really captivated his attention.

"Can't," Gamzee mumbled, trying harder to push the soup away.

"How about this, if you can finish half of this soup, I'll let you have a sip of Faygo or something." Gamzee's mouth twitched up in a little smile. He eyes the soup for a moment before picking the spoon up and eating it again. Karkat turned his attention back to Dave. "Is there any interesting fucking reason you could enlighten me with as to why you're still fucking here?"

Dave shrugged, "got nowhere better to be."

Karkat let his face fall into his palm, "okay. Well if anyone comes around here looking for you, you're fucking dead. Got it?"

Dave nodded, "don't worry, all the girls are in an argument about proper justice and wizards or some shit. Figure they're going to be at it for a while."

Karkat nodded, "I've seen it, once they stop screaming at each other they tone it down, get coffee and call it a debate. Fucking weird." Karkat looked back to Gamzee. Two thirds of the soup gone, wow. "You done?"

Gamzee nodded, handing Karkat the bowl and curling back up on the bed, resting his head in the mutant blood's lap. "Guess you want your Faygo now," Karkat sighed. Gamzee shook his head, causing Karkat to raise an eyebrow at him, "water?" Gamzee thought for a bit, before shrugging. Karkat uncapped the bottle of water and brought it to Gamzee's lips, "just sip it," he instructed. Gamzee took a few sips before rolling onto his side, scratching his horns across Karkat's torso. "Ow, Gamzee, fuck. Horns."

"Sorry," the troll mumbled, lightly and wearily papping Karkat on the side, apologetically before dozing off.

"I do not understand this relationship at all," Dave said, finally. He felt like he had been holding that in  f o r e v e r. Karkat pulled his gaze back toward the wide-eyed human.

"What the fuck do you mean, what don't you understand?"

"Um. All of it. Didn't he like... kill all your friends? And now you guys are like... friend-married?"

Karkat took a deep breath, preparing himself to explain the situation to the slow human boy, "sure," he said, giving up on any possible explanation that could pry it's way into his brain through his thick human skull.

Dave nodded, Karkat was starting to look pretty tired, more so than usual. He guessed he would leave him to his friend-wife/husband. Dave thought about that concept for a second, before absconding.  


	5. Migraine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a little longer than I was hoping but worry not! I have a plan. *cough cough* not really *cough*

After Dave left, Karkat fell asleep, slumped over Gamzee awkwardly on the small bed. He woke up to Gamzee shifting him and groaned. Gamzee sat up, poking Karkat in the face with his horn. "Sorry brotha'," Gamzee said, placing his feet on the floor and sitting up on the bed. Karkat's head was pounding mercilessly.

"Looks like you're feeling better," he croaked, trying to lift himself into a sitting position as the room started to spin. He felt Gamzee catching him by the shoulders, steadying him.

"Yeah but you're not looking so good, Kar."

"I'm fine," Karkat insisted, shrugging Gamzee off of him and getting on his feet. He stood for a few seconds, blinking before he fell forward catching himself above the bed.

"Wo-hoa, easy there." Gamzee stood up, wrapping himself around Karkat and coaxing him to sit back down. "I'm sure you're right as mother fuckin' rain and all but maybe sit for a bit, you hear?"

Karkat groaned, "the only thing I _hear_ is your migraine inducing voice drilling my head relentlessly like a fucking-" Karkat gagged and clasped his hand over his mouth. Karkat's voice softened to an almost inaudible whisper, "I think you got me sick," he admitted. Gamzee stroked Karkat's hair and wrapped a blanket around him. 

"Okay, bro. Maybe lay down and try and grab a little more shut-eye." Karkat nodded, wincing at the impact it made on his head. He let himself fully drop back onto the bed, curling up under the blanket. Gamzee waited with him until he was asleep and the crawled back into the vent.

Karkat woke up to Gamzee flopping out of the vent, half of his body still inside it. Gamzee looked up at the mutant blood and smiled. _Did that fucker climb back into the vent just to touch up on his clown make-up!?_ "How's my little mother fucker feelin'?" he asked, looking over the dark black circles around Karkat's eyes and his pale gray color. 

Karkat's stomach turned, causing him to moan and close his eyes again, "fucking awful." Gamzee gripped the side of the vent and did a theatrical flip out of it. He technically landed on his feet, even if he toppled onto his rear after. Karkat let out an annoyed grunt as he heard Gamzee honk.

"Sorry bro, habits. It's all fuckin' instinct and shit, just feels right, yo'." Karkat shivered as he felt the contents of his stomach rising into his throat, he looked over the bed and into the trash can. It was no longer full of bright purple and green sludge. Gamzee must have washed it out. Karkat felt as though he'd been hunched, pathetically over the bed for days before anything came up. After the first bout of vomiting, Gamzee brought the can to Karkat's lap. Being hunched over like that looked a little strenuous. The high blood wrapped his arms around Karkat as he puked and spit into the trash. Once Karkat was finished he tucked his head into the crook of Gamzee's neck. Gamzee placed the trash can back on the floor and let Karkat climb onto his lap, curled up against his chest. Bro looked a lot smaller when he wasn't built up with all that rage. Gamzee wrapped his arms around the little troll and rubbed his back, causing him to release an awkward, happy little purr. "Man I feel all bad about this now. You fuckin' dragged me out of them vents and shit and now you're down with some shitty ass virus. Stinks, bro."

"Mhmm," Karkat agreed, not really paying attention to what Gamzee was talking about, probably miracles or some shit.

"It's a fuckin' miracle you got me out of there."

There it is.

Karkat fell into a weird half sleep when there was a knock on the door. He was still in Gamzee's arms so... who was knocking. Karkat shot up and onto his feet, stumbling and catching himself on the wall. he rubbed his eyes and pulled a blanket off the bed, wrapping it around himself. "Hide," he whispered to Gamzee, who then crawled under the bed.

Karkat, open door.

His arm shook as he opened the door, it took a while for his eyes to adjust to the light outside his room and actually see who was there. A female troll for sure. Fuck. He squinted at the figure to make out who it was. "Oh good, so you haven't died. Although you are looking rather ill." Kanaya, specifically, even worse.

"Haven't you talked to Dave? He could have told you I wasn't dead. Didn't have to come all the way over here and bother me." He growled, wrapping an arm around his torso.

"No I haven't seen Dave, he's been with Terezi and I've been with Rose. Though he has been wandering off on his own quite a bit. Probably for his own ironic purposes," she laughed a little. Karkat continued to squint at her, discontent growing more and more palpable on his face.

"Well if you're satisfied, it'd be great of you could leave me on my own to die now."

Kanaya frowned slightly, "you're looking very unwell-"

"Tell me something I don't fucking know."

"I was going to ask if you needed anything..."

"I'm just peachy, thanks though."

"Alright well if you do," Karkat started to close the door, "just send me a message." He nodded and closed the door all the way. Kanaya stood in front of his room for a few moments before hearing him flop onto the bed and left. Karkat listened to Kanaya's clicking footsteps until he was comfortable with how far away she was.

"You really shouldn't be sticking around here, Gamz." He said, peaking under the bed. Gamzee's face twisted a little.

"I don't really want to leave you here and sick and stuff, my man."

"I'll be fine, I'm not passed out in a vent."

Gamzee nodded, crawling out from under the bed and pulling himself back into the vent, "way ahead of you, brother. You still owe me that faygo, by the way." He smiled before disappearing into the dark metal corridors. Karkat stretched before closing his eyes again. This was going to be a lot harder to get through without Gamzee around and he didn't want to bother Kanaya after that whole episode. Karkat sighed, hugging his pillow and feeling miserable.    


	6. Mutant Blood

A while after falling into self pity, Karkat fell into a deep sleep. 

The first thing he thought upon waking up was how freaking cold he was. Karkat brushed some hair out of his face that was plastered to his forehead with sweat. Fucking shit. He squeezed his eyes with his fingers and looked around the room. "Oh my- what the fuck are you doing here?" 

"Juggalo bro stopped by my room. Told me you were all sick and shit." Dave shrugged, sitting on the bed, uncomfortably close to Karkat. 

"Were you fucking watching me sleep? You just walked into my fucking room and watched me fucking sleep." 

"Don't make it weird, man. You're sick, I'm just being a stand up guy and checking up on you."

"I'm fine," Karkat growled, pulling the blanket over his head.

Dave pulled the blanket back, causing Karkat to shiver, "you're not. You're all fevery and shit."

"It's _feverish,_  fuckwad."

Dave rolled his eyes, "whatever, point is, you're about to combust. I washed the clown make-up off this," he held up the cloth that Karkat had used for Gamzee and tossed on the floor. Karkat scowled at Dave as he pressed the cloth against his forehead.

"Would you kindly fucking not!?"

"We both know that this is the way it has to be, you can fight it but it won't make it any easier when you're boiling to death but you feel like frosty the snowman with nerve endings." Karkat let Dave put the cloth on his head.

"Frosty what!?" Karkat's stomach gurgled, he moaned and wrapped his arm around himself. Dave brought the can closer to him and wrapped an arm around his back, pulling Karkat in to lean on him. Dave knew Karkat would face-plant into the cold floor before willingly leaning on Dave for support. Karkat rested his head on the side of the trash can, breathing heavily for a while before sicking his face into it and puking. He spit into the can before putting it back on the ground and leaning his head on Dave's shoulder.

Dave smiled at Karkat, "I brought you some water too, even if you don't want to drink any right now I thought you might want to rise your mouth out." Karkat took the bottle of water from Dave, struggling to uncap it. Dave screwed the cap off and handed it back to Karkat. Karkat took a sip and winced when the cold fluid made contact with his stomach. He set the water down and leaned into Dave again. He was too fucking weak to do anything else and the prick was kind of insisting on it.

Karkat fell asleep again, for about twenty minutes and woke still on Dave's shoulder. "What the fuck are you still doing here? You're going to get sick, you fucking imbecile."

"Nope."

"Nope?"

"I've decided I'm immune to troll sickness." Dave boasted.

"That's a stupid thing to decide. How the fuck did you decide that?" Karkat slid himself onto Dave's lap and let the human pull a blanket over him.

"Terezi caught a cold, then Kanaya got it but not me."

"Ever consider you just got lucky?"

"Sure but what's the fun in that?"

"You're an idiot." Karkat groaned.

"Yep."

Karkat winced as the bitter taste of bile climbed his throat, "I think-" Dave's attention shot toward him. Karkat leaned over and gagged into the can, falling forward as his muscles struggled against his weight. Dave grabbed him by the shoulders. "It's okay, dude. I got you."

"Fuck off," Karkat breathed before gagging again. Dave's arm wrapped around Karkat's chest, holding him while he used his other arm to rub the small troll's back. Dave was surprised how light Karkat was and how thin he felt. He wondered if that's how Karkat had always been or if it was just from his troll flu.

He noticed bright red tears forming in the troll's eyes. "Wow." He said, wiping a tear from Karkat's pained face and examining the translucent liquid on his finger.

"What the fuck are you doin-" Karkat puked into the toilet, bright red and green colours splashed into the can. Karkat spit and then hauled his knees to his chest, resting his head on them and shaking.

"Are all troll tears red?"

Karkat felt a wave of panic wash over him, "why the fuck do you care?" He mumbled.

"Professional curiosity."

Karkat sat for a moment, feeling Dave's eyes on him, searing through him in an attempt to understand his alien physiology. "No," he said finally, biting his lip, worried.

"So... What then?"

Karkat sighed, making his annoyance audible. "They match our blood colour, okay!?"

"So... You bleed red. Like people." Dave cleared his throat, "humans, I mean."

"I'm a mutant blood. Can we fucking drop it?" Dave nodded, he didn't want Karkat throwing a stupid fit when he didn't have the energy for it. It would be much less entertaining that way. Especially because bothering him about it would ware him the fuck out. Like a warehouse. Built entirely on worn... Out... Shit. That was a bad analogy. Dave shrugged it off, trail and error, right? Dave wrapped his arms around Karkat, gathering him up again, this time laying him down in the bed properly.

"When's the last time you ate?" Karkat shrugged.

"I think... I don't know."

Dave moved the hair out of his face, "think you could handle anything?"

"God no. Does it fucking look like it?" Karkat moaned.

"Well you should try and get some sleep, you want me to stay?" Karkat bit at the inside of his cheek before nodding weakly and closing his eyes. "Okay. I'll stay." Dave laid down next to Karkat, over the blankets. Keeping his sunglasses on and closing his eyes.  

 


	7. Chain Reaction

Dave woke up to a knock on the door, had he really fallen asleep? He looked over to his right to see Karkat sleeping soundly. 

Dave, see who's knocking. 

Dave reluctantly got up, walking wearily to the door. His pupils tightened into small orbs when the light shone into the room. Even with his sunglasses still on it was really freaking bright. He pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, "Kanaya?" 

"Yes, it's me. I was wondering where you'd gone off to, is Karkat feeling any better?" Leave it to Kanaya to act like such a mom. Dave shrugged before bending at the knees and doubling over, wrapping his arm around himself loosely. Karkat woke up blinking and looking at Dave.

"You have got to be shitting me," he groaned before rolling over and closing his eyes again.

"Dave? What's the matter?" Kanaya's face was plastered with worry. However, all Dave could manage as a reply was a minuscule moan. Kanaya sighed, wrapping Dave's unoccupied arm around her shoulder and bringing him back to the bed.   

Karkat felt Kanaya plop Dave back on the bed. "You can't be serious," he winced.

"Would you like me to have left him on the floor?"

Karkat groaned before prodding Dave, "I fucking told you you'd get sick." Dave weakly batted Karkat's prodding hand away. Karkat squinted at Kanaya who was frowning at the two.

She moved toward Dave, using the back of her hand to feel his head and then Karkat's. "Well you're not as hot as Dave but you're much paler than last I saw you... Have you eaten recently?"

Karkat scowled at her, "what are you doing here?"

"Answer the question, please."

"Don't you have a human girl waiting for you somewhere? Why don't you get back to her?"

"In due time I will. But there are more pressing matters at hand so would you be so kind as to answer my question?"

"No, I haven't. Okay?"

"Alright, thank you. I'll be right back." Before Karkat could protest Kanaya had left the room.

"You have to be shitting me. Does everyone on this fucking meteor have to get sick before you nook-sucking fuckwads start listening to me?" Karkat felt Dave batting at him again, "yeah, yeah. I'll shut up." He frowned, crossing his arms in defeat.

Kanaya walked back into Karkat's room to see him with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, huffing some hair out of his face. Kanaya walked toward him and bent down beside him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. Karkat's eyes snapped open as he flinched slightly seeing Kanaya with a bowl of soup. "You can't be serious."

"If you don't eat you're not going to get better." Her tone always sounded fairly musical to Karkat. He enjoyed hearing her talk, although he would never in a million fucking years admit that. He rolled his eyes and scooted himself up, taking the soup and spoon from her and watching as she moved toward Dave. Karkat felt bad watching Dave wince as Kanaya placed a cold cloth on his head. Karkat felt Dave start to shake beside him and pulled the blanket up over his shoulders. Kanaya gave Karkat a smile.

"You could get sick too, you know. You don't have to do this."

"If I don't I'm afraid no one else will. I can't have you starving to death while Dave bursts into flames." She cleared her throat, "Pardon my description." Karkat shot her a crooked look, that she chose to ignore. "Are you almost finished?"

Karkat sighed, he had managed to finish half of it, "yeah, I think I'm done."

Kanaya smiled, "we'll try again in a few hours, if you're feeling well enough."

Karkat nodded, he spun himself a little, putting his feet on the floor and a hand on his head when the room began to feel as though it were moving. "Fuck," he groaned.

Kanaya placed a firm hand on his chest and held his back with the other, leaning him back into the bed. "Where do you think you're going?" She asked. Karkat let her pull him back onto the bed and moaned. The room seemed to be going all fucking topsy-turvy on him and his stomach was not agreeing with it. He curled into a ball and felt Kanaya rubbing circles into his back. Bullshit fucking flu. He wanted to stretch his legs and do something other than fucking sleep. He fucking hated sleeping in the first place. It was a chore. Despite his malice toward sleep he found himself, once again, dozing off as Kanaya rubbed his back and hummed songs to him.

Once she was certain Karkat was asleep she turned her attention to Dave. She felt his cheek and the back of his neck. His fever was still pretty bad. He started to whimper in his sleep. Kanaya ran her fingers through his hair, quite awkwardly. She was a little more uncomfortable taking care of Dave than Karkat. She hadn't known him as long and a part of her thought she should get Terezi. However, she knew Terezi probably wouldn't do a lot other than make fun of him and end up getting herself sick. As Kanaya's thoughts wandered Dave started to breathe more heavily. She tucked some of his hair behind his ear and shushed him, "it's just a dream, Dave. I assure you." Dave woke up with a slight jolt and began trembling. She soaked another cloth and placed it on the back of his neck before letting him fall into her arms. She tilted her head, surprised that he seemed almost as small as Karkat. Dave's face started to develop a green tint.

"Kanaya?" He whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Gonna' be sick." Kanaya brought the trash can (an extra extracted from her own room) toward Dave and rubbed his back as it tensed up from his heaving. Dave threw up three times before coughing and leaning back into Kanaya.

"Do you think you can go back to sleep?" Dave shook his head. "Why not?"

"Nightmare." He mumbled into her shoulder. 

"Once your fever's down your dreams should be less hectic," she assured, still rubbing his back despite her discomfort.

"Okay," he whispered, letting her settle him back into bed and wearily pushing his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I heard you singing to Karkat."

"Oh..." Kanaya's heart jumped, nervous about her underdeveloped friendship with Dave.

"Can... You do it again?" Kanaya smiled beginning to stroke Dave's hair again and sing quietly to him as he fell asleep.

***

The next morning, Kanaya got up early and headed into Karkat's room to see him sitting with his feet on the floor, eating reheated soup. "You're looking better," she grinned.

He nodded, "yes, I'm not fucking dying anymore. Would you care to see me do a fucking cartwheel?"

Yep he was definitely better. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline, though it does sound like a very entertaining display."

"I washed out my trash can, if you want it. I mean, they're all the fucking same except for the fact that yours is currently being used as a toxic waste dump for human sludge."

"Thank you, Karkat. How is Dave, by the way?"

"His fever's down but he's still awful. But don't worry. Do not fucking worry. I can handle it. We do not need anyone else getting sick here. Now take your trash bin and evacuate this human-sludge, toxic, dumping ground." Kanaya nodded, smiling and taking the trash can from Karkat.

As she was making her way back to her room she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as her head started to pound. Nausea set in once she opened her door and found Rose sitting on her bed. She collapsed into Rose's arms. Well, Karkat was right.


End file.
